Folding door



May 3,1927.' l

- L. c. 'rHoRNE A v FOLDING Doon Filed April e. 1925 ashe'ets-sneet 2 Patented May 3,1927.

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RASTRNAI oFFiCE -f LAWRENCE o. THORNR, OF STERLING, ILLINOIS, AssIeNoR To FRANTZ ivrAizrUFAo-` TURING co., OR STERLING, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIs.

' `FOLDING DOOR.

Appiiaiioii iiiefii Apii s, i925. seriai No.1'21,4`55.

lThis inventionl yrelates `togswinging and' folding doors, and more particularly to those employed on garages and similar buildings,

Y such as those that involve a pluralityof door sections hinged together, with one section hinged at the side of the doorway, sothat the.`

sections canfold together and swingfback at one side of the doorway, when it is desired to open the door, whereby they sections may then unfoldy and be'brought intoV the `same which is the plane -of the" .for -thehorizontally disposed. arm 5, which latter is in turn provided at its end witliva i vertical swivel or pivot 6 ,on the hangerl body, i 7, which latter may, be of any 4suitablechai'f.l acter. pSaid hanger body is-prefeiablypro,4 t

vertical plane, doorway, when it is desired to closejthe door.

Generally stated, therefore, the object of the invention is to provide a novel'and improved arrangementfor insuring'a self-closing movement of the swinging and folding door, when it is released from its open position, and fOr-causing the door-to be fully closed and brought into its ultimate closed position with greater certainty than here-V after `set forth and claimed, and shown 4in the accompanying drawings, in which;

Fig. 1 is an inside elevation of a swinging and folding door construction involving the principles ofthe invention, showing the door in. closed position.

,Figa 2 is a horizontal sectionl taken Ajust above the doorway, showing the swinging and folding door in open position.

Fig. 3 is anenlarged fi'ontvelevation of the door` hanger `and adjacent parts einployed on said door.v

ig.` 4 is a detail, line 1 -4.- in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line-5-5 in Fig. 3. f'

' s thus illustrated, the left-hand door section 1 may be hinged to of the doorway in any vsuitable or desired manner. The right-hand section2 is hinged in any suitable or: desired manner on the right-hand side of ythe door frame, while lthe intermediate or third doorvsection 3 -is suitv ablv hinged to the edge of the `section 2,

whereby the sections 2 and 3 constitute a arm 5,

the left-hand side s swinging and foldingidoor.A `All three'sec- ,y Y

tionsl are adapted to be brought into align-` ment and into the vert-ical planefofthe doordoor structure. Thesection 1 may be opened inwardly and swung around to the left, and

-way when it is desired to close the entirek i the' sections 2 and 3 can be Vo peiied and folded i together andswung around to the right, fas

indicated in Fig. Qofthe drawings. y

For this purpose, therefore, the door 'sec tion 3 is provided withja lvertical swivel 4 vided with wheels 8 that travels-in thetrack' 9, which is integral-.with Vthe .housing,v10, i i

which is suitably secured to the inside of kthe building directlyl over the doorway. .Thus the hanger is avdouble swivel affair, `so to,l

spealnhaving two'vertical axes, whereby the. i

sections 2, and 3.may be .openedl andl foldedv together andV swung4 ,'around parallel,v with each other, andparallel tov the traclr,-at'the right-hand side ofjftliel doorway, .if such is necessary or desirable... A stopgpieceflhffof any suitable Vor desired character, but-preferably `in the j form offa section of 'angles iron, is fastened to the door frame-,inl position to, engage the hanger body, should the j arm 5 be swung far venough to the right of-k the pivot 6,' and thus limit `the motion of the hanger to; the left in closingthedoior vsections, f e `The selfclosing arrangement for the doors.A comprises .a clamp 1 2 of any suitable `char-` acter, clamped uponthe `elbow vof the swivel and Vhaving' al cord orl other flexible connection 13 secured thereto. A pulley Oi' sheavell isniounted on the underrsidefof axis, and engages the said cord orjother flexible connection. f A pulley orl sheave` ,'15, is ksuitably mountedon `the door frameto` rotate about a horizontal axis, at the `leftf i the stop piece 11,to rotate about a vertical horizontal section ony hand side of` he `doorway, aiidthe cordzor@ other flexible yconnection 13g-is supported onnthis pulley Or`,sheave.- The depending portion of the ,cord or flexible connection isy providedwith 161 isvraised, and the sections yi2 and B may `be` ics aweight 16, and the gravita-i f tion-of this Zweight willipullv the door ,intoy held in vopen position by any snitableor de:

sired means (not shown), 'door catches for this purpose being common and well known,

I When the `door sections 2 and 3 are, released romtheir open position, the weight 16 acts through the cord or iiexible connection 13 upon the elbow of the swivel arm 5 a manner tending to swing this arm around into parallel relation to tfhe t1n`fl .upon

which the. wheeled hanger travels, and

y vtherebyipulls the sections; Zand 3 fto the lei't, and finallyY into alignment in the. vertical ly arrive in exactly the right position, inas?r much as the. pulley 14k-is so located, it will be f seen, that the iinal pull .of the weight 16, when the folding ldoor is fully closed,tend sf plane oi tl'ie doorway.. Thus the 'folding door is self-closing, and in addition 4the `lett`- hand edge of the section 3 is certain to, inal- Y enced withl swinging and folding doors. of

i of whether a door jamb isusled or'not.v` It Q .all swing' inwardly, and the section 1 isy this kind, because ot the'inclination off the left-hand edgeoi the section 3 .to remain open ,a little, being supported by the horizontally swinging arm 5 previously nien? tioned.k -I-Iowever, with the c arrangement shown and described, which is illustrative of one form of the invention, the closing movement of the section 3 is insured and is 'certain to be conipleted,'as the weightlt will not only unfold the sections 2 and 3 and bring V'them -into closed? position, b'utiwill also exi' ert r a pull outwardly onl the ellbow portion of the arm 5- (as .shown in Fig, 4, the cord lor flexible connectionl pulls on the cla-nip-lv 12 in y,a direc-tion to :torce the section 3 outwardly Vagainst the door jain'b) in such a inannertliat ythe tight closing oftheV door will be insured` yOf course, the body of the hanger 7 pij vides. ast-op.v at each 'side of the pivot 6, to limit the swinging movement of the arm' in either direction, so that this ariiiwill be par- Aal'lel with the track when in either extreme 'position thereof. Thus, when the door is in close-d position, the pullv of the weight 16 lis'exertedbii the arm 5 .in a manner to keep itagainst the stop formed by. the hanger body, and this prevents further -outward movement of the door section 3, regardless will be understood, `furthermore, that the lower endof the section 3 can be providedl with vfloor bolts (not shown) of any suitable Character, thereby@ hold th doorv `firmly in closed position. The `door sections y adapted to be opened lirst, from the cutside,'kand is equipped with any suitable loch` ing means (not shown) for lockingitin Q1' left Cloer.' The self-@latins .arrangement when the hanger is' used as" shown, fora .tolding door that swings open to the right,

will keep the arm 5 from swinging around to right against the stop on the hanger body at the right of the pivot 6', as this is not necessary in opening `the door, andtheconstant tendency will-,be` for the arin '.5 .to Vswing to.: the leflt'tofwards the left-.handend .of the hanger body, and this` iswhat hap? v its open position. y

With the pulfll constantly exerted 0.1.1 the arm 5. by the'weiglit, the alan is, Ilot as'likely to swing aroiuidto-the right ot the pivot4 6, and the'lhanger body isnot likely to engage the ystop 11,'which latter fis in positionuto keep the. hanger from run-ning oli .the-.end of the track.` Thus it is impossible for `the door to. close finally with the arm 5` extendf ing to the right of the pivot 6.,. even though the arm may do this while the door open or partially closed. n

v'Thus it will be seen that the flexible, C011- pens when lthe folding door is released from neet-ion 13 extends between a i'ixed'point on the. door wiay, such as. the` sheave 14 and the arm 5, but this connection is movable and it permits. opening and closingoi1 the door in theynianner described.

Mithout disclaiming anything, and with# i out prejudiceto any novelty disclosed, what I claim as my invention is:

1. AThe combina-tion of door hinged together to fold back at one side of the doorway, one.l section being hinged at the said one side of the doorway, vva double swivel hanger to snpportanother section of the folding door thus provided,.a'rlexible sections connection extending to said hanger, having V one end attached thereto, and adapted to control said double swivela to. close the fold-` ing door, and means for exerting a pull on the other enclwoi said lflexible connection, whereby the. folding door is pulled from its open position into its closed' position.

21A structure as specified in claim 1, yconiimv prisingv a stationary pulleyk engaging said flexible connection to cause .the latter to pull the door outwardly. into. closed positionl 3. A structure as speciiied vin claim '71,'y

saidhanger having a 'horizontally swinging arm provided with a vertical swivel mount?.

ingrat each. vend thereof, one. said mounting on the door and the other on the traveling hanger, and, said iiexible. connection being connected to the. elbow portion oil said arm.

4. A structure as specified in claim 1 said hanger having.y a' horizontally swinging arm, a-stopA piece for limiting the motion of the hanger in closing the door, said flexible con-A nection being connected t-o saidarm, -and a pulley on said stop piece to engage said flexible connection, disposed in position to cause the flexible connection topull thev door outwardly into closed position.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1, said flexible connection extending above the doorway and then downwardly at the other side thereof, together with a plurality of stationary pulleys for engaging said flexible con? neet-ion, and means for exerting a pull on said flexible connectiomcomprising a weight for the lower end thereof, adapted to gravitate and thereby pull the folding door into closed position, one of said pulleys being disposed in position to cause outward movement of the door intothe exact closed position thereof.

6. A track over a doorway, a hanger to travel on said track, an arm provided on said hangervto swing horizontally, a closed lable connection between said arm and a fixed e.

point on the doorway, adapted by movement to permit opening of the door. y Y

7. A swinging and folding door comprising a plurality of hinge connected sections,

a track over the doorway, a wheeled hanger body supported'to travel on said track, an arm pivoted at one end on said body to swing horizontally, av swivel connection be-` tween the other end of fsaidf arm and one.

section of the door, stationary supporting means on the doorway, -and movable means to connect said supporting means with said arm.

Specification signed this 31st day of March, 1925. Y, l i

LAWRENCE c. THORNE. 

